Musings

Friday, July 30, 2010

Cheese

My first taste of cheese came from grilled cheese sandwiches made by Momma, American cheese as I recall. While she made these sandwiches for us kids she never ate cheese in her life. Papa ate cheese and relished it.
The first taste of pizza, very delicious, had Mozzarella cheese. When Papa entered his first pizzeria he was overcome by the smell and could not breathe. In his young years he had shovelled cow manure, horse manure and had pigs whose manure exhibits a highly offensive odor. Yet, he could not abide the smell of a pizzeria.
Later, I found that adding Parmesan to spaghetti sauce gave an extra tang to pasta. Pat used to sprinkle it on salads for that pleasant taste.
Bernie and Lori introduced me to Brie which is very creamy and great on a cracker. If you like butter on a soda cracker you will love the taste of Brie on a soda cracker.
When we lived in Van Wert, Pat and I would go to a Greek restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was there I learned about Feta cheese. A Greek salad, served with our steaks, had crumbled Feta cheese in it. The taste just jumped out of the salad and into the taste buds. The town of Van Wert is the only place that makes Lidercrantz cheese. I tasted it once and it was not to my taste. Lidercrantz cheese is served in most five star restaurants in the world, the cheese course comes after the desert.
A restaurant in Canton, Michigan used to serve a hamburger that was stuffed with Blu Cheese. Everyone raved about it and I finally decided to try it. They were right, it was excellent. We went back often. I began to buy Blu cheese by itself and eat it with crackers, the green parts in it have never bothered me. I have tasted Limberger cheese but it was a little too strong for me.
At a party, a tray of different cheeses was passed around. I sampled some Jarlsberg, Provolone, Monterrey Jack and Sharp Cheddar. Most I had tasted before but the Jarlsberg was very pleasant. Since then I have bought my share of Jarlsberg.
Without exception, I always have New York Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese in the house. Recently I have been supplementing my cheese consumption with Asiago cheese, which has a strong smell and very tart taste on the tongue. And, Momma never tried cheese in her life.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Aristocracy

Anyone that has read some European history is aware that there were ruling classes in all the countries. It began with the king and his attendants, then the nobles (counts, dukes, earls, knights, etc.) were the rulers of the kingdom. The king appointed judges over the people to make decisions over their problems. Relatives and friends of the nobles were given favored positions in the government and they were part of the aristocracy. They supported the king and the regime because it was their source of power. Like the game of chess they do what they can to support the king.
In this Country we also have an aristocracy even though we like to pretend that we do not. Our aristocracy is composed of people that wield power over all the people. First come the families that we always see in power: Roosevelt, Bush, Kennedy, Rockefeller, Dodd, Gore, Daley, Dingle, etc. Others that support these families are the leaders in the administration, those that head up the FDA, EPA, DOA, DOJ and all sorts of additional acronyms, the political parties, the appointed judges, the congress, and the mainstream media. An extension of the aristocracy are college professors, high school teachers and even some grade school teachers. All these people look out for one another, promote their writings, sayings and appearances. These are members of the government or are receiving money from the government.
In the United States our government is supposed to serve the people under the rule of law. No matter what political party, more and more we are seeing that the people are not being listened to and the government that affects them is getting bigger and bigger. Our freedom is getting smaller and smaller.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Book Report

Our President's first book, Dreams From My Father", is amazingly revealing as to why he thinks as he does. He generally divides it into three parts: Origins, Chicago and Kenya. Origins tells what happened to him in Hawaii and a little of Indonesia. His Chicago experience as a community organizer tells about how he struggled to be effective. He later went to Kenya to see his relatives just before he went to school at Harvard.
I was struck by his outlook during his formative years. He is obsessed with the fact that he looks black and is so judged by all his associates. All relationships he has he is concerned about his blackness. The exclusive school he went to in Hawaii, even though it accecpted him, he hung around with black misfits with a grudge against whites. Even though he lives in a white home, the blackness overrules everything. He learns to swear, drink, smoke pot and complain about how the whites do not treat him and his friends well.His mother married a second time to Lolo, an Indonesian student, and they both moved to Djakarta. Lolo was a muslim, as was his real Father, a Kenyan, and it was in Indonesia that he practiced the muslim faith. His Mother gave birth to his sister while there. He left Indonesia when there were arrangements for him to attend the exclusive Hawaiian school Punahou. His Mother stayed behind with Lolo.When he got to Chicago he attached himself to a person that showed him how to be a community organizer. He spent three to four years doing this, trying to organize the neighborhood to get city hall to do something. He lived in a crummy apartment and drove broken down car. But he was driven to do something for his people. While trying to get the churches involved, he met Jherimia Wright but did not join his church until sometime later.There was something inside him that wanted to go to Keyna and visit his relatives. while ther he discovered how poor they all were. His Father was the only one that had gone to a university, the rest lived the tribal life of the Luo. While there he found three more of his Father's wives (he had four). None of them lived together, one was hated by all because she was certain that the other wives were holding out on her regarding an inheritance that Barack's Father must have had for his wives. Actually, there was no money bacause he had lost his cushy job with the government when the regime changed. All of his family hated the British because of how they had treated the African. His step-mothers had sisters and children so the clan was fairly large. Everywhere he went in Kenya all the blacks resented the whites, and his tribe resented the other tribes.The above explains why his first act as President was to remove the bust of Winston Churchill and send it back to the British. Payback for how they treated his Kenyan family.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Nancy and Gibbs

If you do not follow the news closely this will make no sense. Gibbs has conceded that there is a possibility the the majority in the House will be lost in the next election. Nancy is furious that this has been said and insists that the majority will be maintained. It appears that they have never met and do not much like each other.
Nancy has turf to protect and will do so vehemently. Should she lose the Speakers position all the perks and privileges she now has will be lost. She loves that big airplane and she loves the big gavel. Right now, when she talks, everybody listens. Without the Speakers title she goes back to being just another progressive liberal. No wonder she is angry with Gibbs for reminding her about her worst nightmare.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Dr. Alvida King

When she was on the Glenn Beck Show, Dr Alvida King, who had marched with Martin Luther King at Selma, revealed something most people did not know, including me. She said that before the march every single person that marched had to sign a contract that they would be non-violent during the march. If anyone did not sign the contract they could not come along. She was in her teens then and she had to sign. She said during the march everyone was afraid because they did not know what would happen. The Show put up a picture of the marchers and they all look afraid. This was not an arrogant march, it was a march for principle.
When I worked in Mississippi I met Roy who told me that he was there in Selma during the marching. Roy is white and resented the marchers. He told me how he was driving a car with some of his buddies and he intentionally tried to run some of the marchers over. He laughed as he described how the marchers scattered so they would not be hit. I could not determine whether he told me this out of a guilty conscience or to tie himself to a famous happening.
In the movie "Gandhi" we see the same thing as Indians are demonstrating against the British and Gandhi has told them to be non-violent. One-by-one Indian demonstrators step up to be beaten down with clobs and then taken away bloody and broken. Watching that scene makes you cringe.
Alvida King is going to be with Glenn Beck on August 26 when Tea Party people will meet on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a demonstration. The Black Panthers have said they will be there also. It should be interesting.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Voting

The idea that there could be some Black Panthers restricting access to a polling station is a bit chilling. I have asked myself what I would do if there were two guys outside with clubs and saying that I should not go in. When I was younger there would be no question that I would have entered to vote. At this age, I am not so cock-sure of myself, and, I am capable of second thoughts. Calling the police seems like a safe thing to do, but what if they don't come? Perhaps talking to other people, form a gang, and rush them as they did on the airliner on 9-11. I am practicing my call, "Lets roll."
In my precinct it is unlikely that we would have trouble of that kind. But, how about Kathy and Adrienne in the precinct they work, would it be possible there? If they do, I see it this way: Kathy would leave the job she is doing inside (she would digress) and go out and tell them what the law is and they had better get out of there because she is an attorney and has the power to give them some real trouble. (Later on she would weave a story about it to tell to her Toastmasters Club.) On the other hand, if Adrienne goes out she would try to find out their e-mail addresses so she can sell them some stuff. If they said they would not buy anything, she would run them off by telling them what a bitchy woman she can be and will see to it that their computers will always jam up. Yup, that should do it.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Danger in my life

Donald Berwick may become the most important man in my whole life. He has just been given the position that oversees both Medicare and Medicaid. This man believes in rationing medical care, and looks to the British medical system as one that has it "right." This is the person Obama had in mind when he made the statement: "When you are old and your life is pretty much over, then we will not spend money for an expensive operation but will instead give you pain pills."
Berwick has studied medical expenses for old people and says that most of the health expenses a person incurs is at the very last days of their life. Therefore, cutting those expenses at that time will save a lot of money.
I recognize him as someone that has a great deal of control over my life. I thought there was a possibility that I would live to be one hundred, now I am not so sure. Of course, you are also on his list.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

One Trick Pony

All 4-H members are familiar with the term "one trick pony" because they are aware of how difficult it is to train a pony to do even one trick. At the fairs, as they show off their livestock, to wow the spectators, they would demonstrate the skills of their ponies, usually only one trick. When asked for more they lower their heads and admit that is all they know.
Increasingly we are seeing our president as a "one trick pony". His most vaunted skill is campaigning and he is very good at it. He won the presidency on his gift. Now that he is called to govern, he continues to fall back on his one trick, campaigning. The oil leak is an good example of it because he does not try to help solve the problem. Instead, he goes around talking about it and making threats. He is quick to talk about any problem the country has, blame it on others, then sit back waiting for the next crises to come by.
He stated he would focus on jobs "like a laser." He talks about jobs created or saved, yet, does not take any action that would create jobs in the private sector.